Patriots Talk: Willie McGinest

Site Staff

11/17/2005

Pregame comments from the New England Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest. McGinest shares his thoughts on the Saints, the Patriots injuries and some other important events that have transpired in New England this season.

(On the biggest difference in the Patriots this year as opposed to the three Patriots' Super Bowl teams)

WM: "It's a little bit of a lack of consistency in our play. We were pretty consistent in the past, which really is the past. We're not dealing with that anymore. For us to be successful this year, we have to play hard, physical tough and not give up big plays and defensively, make turnovers. We're going to have to do these things consistently if we're going to be successful this year."

(On the injury situation )

WM:"It's football. I've been injured before and that can be critical at certain stages of the game. What I used to tell people is that we play a physical sport. We're warriors out here. Nobody's immune to the injury bug. Sooner or later, it's going to happen. You just have to try to fight through this if you can still play. If you can't do what it takes to fight to get back on the field, as far as guys filling in for injured players, it's a professional football league. They have to step in, they have to prepare anyway like they were the starter, so when they get their opportunity to get in the game as when you saw, some guys come in and play really well. It happened this week."

WM:"Those are impact players, so anytime you get impact players back on the field, it helps. They are capable of making plays. They are emotional leaders and they make it easy for me out there and everybody else, because they are able to do a lot of different things."

(On the job Bill Belichick has done to keep the team together despite the injuries )

WM:"Bill does a great job. He is the leader. He makes a lot of important and really accurate points. We miss the guys that weren't out there, but we can't dwell on it. Those guys are not there right now. The guys coming back we definitely would like them to come back. It's important for the guys that are out there to get that stuff out of your mind. You got to have confidence in the guys that are out there playing next to you and playing with you and rally around those guys and do everything you can individually to play really well and do your job so everybody else can do their job. We don't put a big emphasis on it. We talk about it. We hate when guys get hurt. Anytime a guy gets hurt, you don't like it, but you definitely have to move on and play ball."

(On what the team has to do over the next seven games to play the style of football they want to play)

WM:"I don't know about the next seven games, but what we need to do this next game is come against a really talented team on both sides of the ball. They're big and fast a physical team. What we need to do is play consistent ball, we got to match their intensity, we have to be physical, which that goes without saying. We need to be psychical this week, because that's the type of football team that we are and they have some big time players. You can't stop them of course, because nobody can stop in the NFL, but you got to try to contain them."

(On the Patriots approach to taking games one at a time)

WM:"Yes, I think it's important. I think it's too early to start worrying about the playoffs and everything else and it doesn't matter if you go out this week and get hammered and lose the game. None of that stuff is a reality anyway. You just got to build each game and go one week at a time. That's what we concentrate on and that's all that really matters. It's really a one game season for us."